It was expected that over 15 parliamentarians from Prosperous Armenia and the Republican Party (most of whom were businessmen) would swear their loyalty to the new authorities, headed by Nikol Pashinyan. What reporters used to call a “rat race” now has softer names: they repented, they converted, the light of God shined upon them, or they understood that the people control the government.
To be honest, “rat race” is also insulting, and to say that they “converted” is making a mockery out of them. In reality, businesspeople who entered politics have their benefits. There is no Prosperous Armenia, there’s businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, who “has a political party” (in the beginning, he did that under Robert Kocharyan’s orders). There’s no RPA, there are several businessmen, who are “keeping a political party” under Serzh Sargsyan’s orders. If Serzh Sargsyan is no longer the leading figure, why do they need to keep it? It’s clear that those people will never truly be against any government. Otherwise, the tax collectors or the NSS will come and “lay them down on the asphalt.” They’ll do what they did to Khachatur Sukiasyan in 2008, what they did in 2015 to Gagik Tsarukyan, and now to Barsegh Beglaryan, Samvel Mayrapetyan, and others.
To blame businesspeople who care about their businesses by getting used to any government isn’t right. It’s another thing that they shouldn’t have any place in politics, parliamentary mandates, and parliament to begin with. There’s a difference between the past and the present- in favor of the present.
The current authorities have nothing to do with those businesspeople and they have no interest in them being a part of parliament. That induces optimism that businessmen will no longer feel the need to “create political parties” or to “keep” them alive, as well as the need to enter parliament. That, finally, will separate business from politics, business from the state system and businesspeople will do their work. It was announced that they gave their guarantees and were freed from corrupt responsibilities.
Are you bringing investments? That’s great, you’re doing it for your business. Are you a charity worker? Great, continue with your charity. Leave the National Assembly to politicians.
Aram Abrahamyan
